Brokerages Set Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Target Price at $210.59

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the forty-three brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty-nine have assigned a buy recommendation and four have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $210.59.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the sale, the director now owns 272,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,376,238.74. The trade was a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Prostatis Group LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 21.5% during the fourth quarter. Prostatis Group LLC now owns 9,361 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,772,000 after buying an additional 1,654 shares during the last quarter. M1 Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $838,000. DSG Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $18,398,000. Chancellor Financial Group WB LP purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $2,961,000. Finally, 111 Capital purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,599,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.7 %

Alphabet stock opened at $163.99 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $182.57 and a 200 day moving average of $176.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $147.22 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.